Life-preserving- bed eor ships



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE K. HOOPER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LIFE-PRESERVING- BED FOR SHIPS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,546, dated September 11, 1855.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE K. I-IoorER, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Life-Preserving Spring Pontoon- Bed; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specifica-tion and the accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.

Figure l of such drawings -denotes a top View of my invention; Fig. 2, is a longitudinal and central sect-ion of it. Fig. 3, is a transverse section of it.

In the same, A, exhibits a. rect-angular frame made of wood or some other buoyant material and having arranged within it four or any other suitable number of metallic air tight boxes or pontoons B B, O C, each of which is supported by springs as seen at D, in Figs. 2 and 3, such springs being arranged and made fast upon the bottom or bottom bar of the frame A. These several pontoons are disposed so that their upper surfaces may be in one plane, a hair or stuffed mattress, E, being placed upon such surfaces and suitably fastened to the frame A.

Vith respect to either of what may be termed the head pontoons or those seen at B, B, it should be hinged to that end of the frame A, which is immediately adjacent to it, the hinge being shown at a, in Fig. Q. Such pontoon is to be made of a greater depth at its outer edge, t-han it is at its inner edge, c, or it is to be constructed trapezoidal or triangular in section as seen in Fig. 2. The object of this is to obtain an increased movement of it immediately underneath the shoulder blades of a person, it being intended that this pontoon shall extend immediately beneath such part of him when the person is lying upon the bed. As the shoulder blades generally project from the back of a perso-n, it is deemed desirable for his comfort as well as to enable him to breathe freely, when he is reposing upon the mattress, that the pontoon B, should be able` to have a greater movement on its springs, than the pontoon C, has.

I make both pontoons B` B, alike in order to permit a person to lie upon the bed with his head toward either end of it as may be most convenient for him. By so arranging the pontoons and their supportf or bearings for the bed to rest upon, but

they serve to protect it from wear from the springs and are themselves better protected from injury than they would be were the springs disposed between them and the bed or mattress, as the farther they may be from the bottom of the frame, the less liable will they be to be staved or injured.

A spring pontoon mattress or bed constructed in the above-described manner will be found not only to be very comfortable to sleep upon when a person is on board a vessel at sea, but also exceedingly useful in saving life or property in case of accident to the vessel for when thrown overboard it will float in the water and may be used to sustain one or more individuals either while in the water or upon it.

I am aware that it is not new to make a berth by means of a series of sectional bottoms or life preservers supported by a standee frame or bedstead, the sectional bottoms when used as life preservers, being detached from the frame or standee I am also aware that it is not new to place a mattress on springs supported within a frame or box, the same forming what is usually termed a spring bed or mattress and the whole being connected together, but I believe it is new, to so arrange a series of pontoons or air tight boxes within a wooden frame and upon springs and directly underneath a mattress fastened to such frame that not only may the several pontoons move or play independently of each other and thus insure to the mattress the advantages of the springs, but serve in conjunction with the wooden frames to give buoyancy when the pontoon bed is oating on water.

I therefore claim- 1. My improved manufacture or life preserving spring pont-oon bed as made of a wooden frame or mattress, a series of pontoons and a series of springs arranged and connected together, substantially as specified. a

2. And I also claim the improvement of making each of the pontoons B, B, of less depth at its inner edge than it is at its outer one, or that Which is hinged to the frame my signature this nineteenth day of Decem- When the said pontoon is of such Size as to ber A. D. 1854. proj eet beneath the shoulder blades of a person when reposing upon the mattress E, the 5 object of so constructing said pontoon hav- VVit-nesses:

ing,` been herenbefore Specified. R. H. EDDY,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set F. P. HALE, J r.

GEORGE K. HOOPER. 

